Tag Archives: story

Sometimes, rather than writing, I allow myself to get caught up in the visuals. I am doing that now. Changing the look of my blog sites, adding widgets, changing themes. It’s another way that I express my creative side. But I also think it’s important to allow my blog site to reveal who I am, as a writer, as a human being. I change, I am not static. So, my blog sites change.

As I think about real life change, I realize that story characters change also. I received a new issue of WRITER’S DIGEST the other day and one of the titles struck me: “The Science of Character Change.” The caption reads “If your protagonist doesn’t evolve, your story will die on the page.” Oh my gosh! How scary is that?

So, of course, I start to wonder if my heroine is too bland. How can she grow and “evolve” during the course of the story? And all sorts of scenarios start to spill out. Then, there’s the antagonist. I have struggled with his outcome. But I realize I have a few different ways he can change also. So I begin to relax a bit.

Once calmed down again, I remember that I know that characters have to change in some way during the course of the story. It’s the natural course of events. Of course, there are those characters that won’t change, but the main characters must. Their development makes the story real, plausible.

There are so many facets to writing a good story that others want to read. It’s a wonder that any of us write at all. Character growth and plot development, sub plots, continuity, tying up loose ends, editing, re-editing. A good story idea is not easily put to the page. The thought and planning that goes into the story idea to manifest it on the page is daunting, phenomenal, exciting, gratifying, and enjoyable. We writers love what we do and it’s so worth the effort. Keep on writing!